A New Adventure!
by Bel9
Summary: King Belgarion of Riva is called upon once again to save the world, but this time he will need the help of one Prince Arthur of Camelot and his manservant Merlin!
1. Some bad news

King Belgarion of Riva was tired. He was lying in bed beside his small wife Ce'Nedra unable to sleep. Restless, he felt a compulsion to walk and so got up and went out into the corridor.

If Brand were to catch him out in a nightshirt at this hour, he would not be happy but Garion didn't really care.

Something felt wrong, but he didn't know what. It was like the knowledge was just out of his reach.

He wasn't really paying much attention to where he was going, but just let his feet direct. Soon he was passing the throne room and instinctively turned in. The room was as it should be except for one small detail. Eriond was sitting on the throne.

"Ah, Garion," he said, keeping his voice muted.

"Eriond, what brings you to Riva?"

"I'm afraid we have a problem, Garion. I'm sorry to say that Zandramas defied all the odds and actually caused the battle to continue."

"What?!" Garion exclaimed, shocked, he had thought it was all over.

"I regret to say that she tried to avoid her fate by causing another star to take her place. This of course failed, but she did enough damage to cause that star to explode as well. Another accident. I'm afraid we're back to square one but with a new enemy."

"What do we have to do?" asked Garion, his voice resigned. He could not leave a world of darkness for his children to live in.

"You're to go back on the road. I will give you further instructions if you assemble everyone that you will need in this throne room. I have already sent a prophecy that I believe is being spoken in Riva itself, I suggest you get it written down. I will also take up residence in your mind again, so that I will know the moment you are ready."

The next thing he knew, Garion was waking up in his bed again. Immediately, he strode over to the balcony to contact Belgarath.

"Garion, what in the name of Aldur do you want at this hour?"

"Eriond visited me last night, grandfather."

"And what did he have to say?" Belgarath sounded cautious; as if he wasn't sure he wanted to know.

"We're going back on the road again." Garion could sense his dissatisfaction. "You have to come to Riva, there is a new prophecy, and we're going to have to decipher it to find out exactly who we need. I suggest that we keep this on the low though. I don't really want Ce'Nedra finding out until the last minute possible."

"Alright, alright, I'm coming. I'll be there tomorrow." And with that he terminated the connection.

Garion dressed quickly and went to find Brand to tell him that he wanted the words of all the lunatics in Riva recorded.

The next day, he had a pile of five lots of the ravings of people in Riva. One in particular had caught his eye as it happened to mention the ancient one. All he had to do now was wait for Belgarath to arrive.

Garion was sitting in the throne room listening to a particularly boring tolnedran envoy when a large hawk swept into the room and landed in front of the throne.

Knowing exactly who the hawk was, Garion quickly dismissed the man. As soon as he had left, grumbling and disgruntled, Belgarath resumed his human shape.

"Have you got this prophecy then?" he asked, getting straight to the point.

"It's in the library, I'm pretty sure it's the right one, it mentions you."

Without a word, Belgarath swept from the throne room and into the library, Garion hot on his heels.

After much studying, the two of them could only make out one thing. It seemed that on Erastide, about a week from that day, Belgarath, Polgara, Durnik, Kheldar, Zakath, and Sadi would be standing in the throne room where Eriond would meet them.

Belgarion sent out letters to Zakath, Sadi, and Kheldar requesting that they come immediately to ensure that that happened, before going to find his wife. He decided that it would be better to tell her sooner than later, even though he was definitely not looking forward to her reaction.

He found Ce'Nedra sitting in a large armchair by the fire in their room, sewing.

"I have some news, dear." Garion announced tentatively, sitting in the chair beside her.

"You're going away. Again." She said this coldly, without the emotion he was sure that she was feeling.

"I have no choice, love."

"I know," she sighed, "but I'll miss you."

"This was not the reaction he had expected. The exact phrase that he had anticipated was 'don't you love me anymore?'

Evidently Ce'Nedra for once understood the gravity of the situation. Garion assumed that she had been listening in with her pendant.

"When are the others coming?" she asked.

"I'm not sure but I think Aunt Pol and Durnik should be here tomorrow. Silk will probably make it sooner than the other two, so Sadi will likely be next. Zakath will probably be last, having to come all the way from Mallorea."

Ce'Nedra nodded, smiling gently.

"Do you have any idea how long you will be gone?" she asked.

"I'm afraid not."

She looked up at him and went to sit in his lap.

"Well then, we'll just have to make use of the time we have left, won't we?" she said. A mischievous light glinting within her small eyes.


	2. Through the Veil

**Sorry this took so long. It's a bit brief, i know but it was needed. **

* * *

Prince Arthur of Camelot was not happy. He had simply been walking down the corridor, when his incompetent manservant had come careering down the corridors in a mad rush to get to the prince's rooms to wake him up.

Of course he was late as usual so by the time that Merlin got to the door, Arthur was just coming out to see where he was. The ensuing crash left both on the floor, covered in the Prince's breakfast.

Having to shower and change had done nothing for Arthur's mood, and now to top off, he was sure to get a lecture from his father for being late to the meeting that had been called.

Merlin walked into Gaius' chambers looking downhearted. He had been late getting up and had caused a monumental mess in the corridors. Unfortunately Arthur hadn't seen the funny side of the whole thing and now Merlin was feeling the effects of the Prince's displeasure.

He had decided that his manservant's talents would be best put to use cleaning out all of the horses. They were to go out on some errand for Uther later and Arthur said that he needed all of his horses sparkling clean, despite the fact that he would only be taking one out; so that meant mucking out the stables as well.

Merlin didn't understand why Arthur was putting him through this, especially considering that there was a perfectly good stable hand hired to do exactly this job.

* * *

A small crowd had gathered around the base of the throne of the King of Riva. With a little help from the more powerful among them, the three that would otherwise not have been able to make it within the allotted time were present.

Polgara had gone to fetch Zakath, who had evidently enjoyed his journey flying over. He had immediately asked if she would take him back home in the same method once all this was over, and to Garion's surprise she had agreed. Apparently, Zakath was a natural.

Durnik had bravely volunteered to go to Nyissa and fetch Sadi. He had simply transformed the eunuch into a snake and carried him as he flew back to Riva. Sadi had been so comfortable in that form that he had slept the whole way and therefore remembered nothing of the journey.

That had left Belgarath to go and transport Silk. No one knew how they had travelled across, and neither of them were telling. Everyone noticed the way that Silk flinched as soon as Belgarath so much as looked at him though. They also saw the wicked glint in the old man's eyes. Garion felt truly sorry that he hadn't gone to get his friend himself.

He had stayed behind with Ce'Nedra. She had graciously offered to remain absent from the throne room and conduct the Erastide celebrations in Riva. Surprisingly, she had not thrown too many tantrums or even been too hostile with him. In fact she hadn't even really tried to prevent him from going. He privately suspected that Eriond had had a quiet word with her about it.

Suddenly, Eriond's familiar voice sounded in Garion's head, or rather out of his mouth as he took over controls of the King's body.

"Ah, I'm glad to see that you all made it. Unfortunately, I cannot tell you much, but I feel I must warn you that there is another God taking part in the battle. They were recruited from another world, so I do not know anything else. It is good to see that you all got here in time, I see that you managed to get my prophecy," he indicated to the Rivan Codex; as it was now being called, "so your first destination will be decipherable. I will, however say that you will be joined in your quest by three more people. If you fail to recruit even one of them, your journey will be for nothing and we will lose. I suggest you set off tomorrow, good luck."

With that the part of his consciousness currently staying in Garion's head regressed to the depths of his mind.

The crowd stood in silence for a minute before Belgarath heaved himself up and over to the table upon which the prophecy lay, motioning for Garion to follow.

With a sigh the King of Riva did as he was told. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

Merlin had finished brushing Arthur's main horse, and was about to begin mucking out it's stall when the Prince himself strode in.

"Forget this Merlin; we're to go on a mission for my father. You're to go and get all of the equipment ready, including my armour and supplies."

The prince seemed relaxed enough, but Merlin could see the glint of adventure in his friend's eyes. This normally preceded some sort of dangerous situation during which Merlin had to innocuously save Arthur's life, again. But right now Merlin didn't care. All he could think of was 'saved'.

The next day, the assortment of Garion and his friends left the city wrapped tightly in travelling cloaks. They had eventually worked out that they should be searching somewhere in Algaria for 'the veil between worlds'.

That morning, he had received a letter from Hettar, saying that some of his men had reported a strange anomaly on the plains, so that seemed like a good place to start.

The journey was, for once uneventful. Garion had time to talk and catch up with each of his friends, and greatly enjoyed being away from the formal courts of Riva.

Three days before they were due to arrive, Belkira and Beltira; who had been given the latest prophecy to decipher save taking the thing along with the band of travellers, contacted Belgarath. Another passage had revealed itself to them, and that night a meeting was called around the campfire, to pass on the news.

"It appears that we will be gaining another three companions during the course of this never ending nightmare." Belgarath stated dryly, looking around before continuing, "we will chance across; 'The Once and Future King,' 'The Unlikely Saviour,' and 'The Only Twin.'"

Garion turned to Silk. The Drasnian's head had shot up at this last one, an unreadable expression crossing his face for a split second before he smoothly composed himself. Belgarath had also noticed and stopped talking.

"What?" the sorcerer asked, his voice low and alert.

"That last one, it reminded me of someone."

"Who? We need all these people, and any leads are possible."

"Not this one," he gave a derisive laugh, "She's dead; died long ago."

* * *

Arthur and Merlin rode up to the strange thing that had suddenly come into being a couple of weeks ago in the centre of a small village on the outskirts of King Uther's realm. Neither had ever seen anything like it, around they could see the village houses, but there was a large jagged shape through which they saw flat, grassy plains.

They surveyed the area for a while, and eventually threw a rock which passed right through the portal, before riders appeared on the horizon, riding fast towards them. Arthur quickly began barking out orders;

"All knights through the... thing. Defend the passageway to Camelot!"

The Prince and his manservant were first through, unfortunately it closed behind them, leaving them to face the strange riders alone.

* * *

**Next Chapter: Merlin and Arthur meet their travelling companions!**

**Please review?!?!**


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